Mr Fernandes also flagged off six new advance life support ambulances for urgently transporting accident victims to nearby hospitals.

The ambulances have been supplied by the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways as part of its emergency care initiatives.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ministers of State for Road Transport & Highways Tushar A Chaudhary and Sarvey Sathyanarayana were amongst those present on the occasion.

Mr Fernandes also flagged off a crash investigation vehicle deployed by National Automotive Testing research and Development Infrastructure Project(NATRIP) for scientific investigation of serious accidents on this stretch by a team headed by Professor Anoop Chawla of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.

He also released on the occasion the National Ambulance Code developed by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways by utilising the expertise of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, with the active participation of the automobile industry, the vehicle testing agencies and other stakeholders.

Mr Fernandes expressed the hope that the steps initiated by the Ministry would make a major impact on the road safety scenario of the country. He expressed deep concern over the high incidence of road accidents and resultant fatalities.

Reiterating the Government’s commitment to make roads safer for the public, the Minister recounted steps being taken by his Ministry to promote road safety, like educational campaigns on road safety, supply of cranes and ambulances to States, establishment of model Institutes of Driving Training & Research and fully automated vehicle inspection and certification centres, administrative measures like enforcement of provisions relating to installation of braking systems in agricultural trailers, improvement in construction of bus body building by notification of procedure for accreditation of bus body builders, steps to check overloading of vehicles, and so on.

He appealed to the people to observe the rules of the road like adherence to speed limits, helmet wearing, use of seat belts, not to mix drinking and driving, respect pedestrians’ right at zebra crossing, never to jump red light, avoiding use of high beam and keeping cool to avoid road rage.

“Let us resolve to follow these simple rules of road safety strictly from today; let all of us become Road Safety Volunteers from this day," he said.

He said that on the basis of the experience gained from this pilot project and the investigation by the team of IIT Delhi a more comprehensive scheme may be launched for the entire country in phases.

Mr Fernandes thanked the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Rajasthan for the active help and support of the two State Governments in the launch and implementation of the pilot project.

Mr Vijay Chibber, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, said the pilot project has a toll free number 1033 to report accidents; a 24X7 call centre to receive information about accidents and deploy the nearest ambulance by tracking through GPS device; local youth nominated by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan as Road Safety Volunteers who were got trained in First Aid by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways at All India Institute of Medical Sciences; and cashless treatment of road accident victims on Gurgaon – Jaipur stretch at 44 empanelled hospitals and 7 government hospitals.

He said certain minimum standards and guidelines have been laid down for constructional and functional requirements of ambulances so as to ensure care and comfort to the patients. The category of First Responder, which also includes two wheeled ambulances, has been specially introduced for the first time in India to cater to the need for providing prompt medical care in congested by-lanes and high traffic areas.